1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lift used for maintenance and repair of automobiles, which includes an inverse Y-shaped link mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lift used for maintenance of a vehicle generally includes a table for supporting a lower body frame of the vehicle, an X-shaped link mechanism for vertically moving the table, and a base which one end of the X-shaped link mechanism is fixed to. The table should be lifted up to a height of 1,800 mm by the X-shaped link mechanism to allow a mechanic to check and repair a lower portion of the vehicle in a standing attitude. The preferable length of the table is, on the other hand, not greater than 1,500 mm for effectively supporting a lower body frame of a compact car other than four wheels. A long-armed link mechanism is not suitable for moving such a short table. For maintenance of the compact car, a conventional lift has a multiple-stage X-link mechanism including a plurality of, generally two, short-armed X-link units 110 and 120 vertically disposed in series between a table 100 and a base 130 as shown in FIG. 6. The multiple-stage X-link mechanism requires a greater number of parts and higher precision of arm elements and thereby becomes more expensive than a standard one-stage X-link mechanism. A number of joints in the multiple-stage X-link mechanism are significantly loosened through a long-term use of the lift.